John Cleese slams ‘naive’ critics who take offense at Trump and Hitler jokes

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monty python star John Cleese sparked controversy after comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler in a social media post.

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The British comedy legend sparked outrage from some “naive” fans after he jokingly shared “five things I found Hitler preferable to Trump”. 1.8 million followers on X.

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1. He fought for his country 2. He never used a teleprompter 3. He was kind to dogs 4. He wrote his own book 5. He never played golf 6. He wasn’t very fat ” wrote Mr. Creese, 84.

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He went on to list five ways Trump is preferable to Hitler, writing: He does not practice Genocide 2. His hair is prettier. ” I left his remaining three spaces blank.

Cleese, aware that his words were sure to spark a backlash, quickly apologized for his inconsiderate remark, writing: “I would like to apologize for my last tweet. It was a very bad joke, especially on Boxing Day.” .

But President Trump’s fans were not quick to forgive, and Mr. Cleese then had to fend off his loudest critics all at once.

After one person wrote, “It’s clear that comedy’s best days are behind us,” Cleese responded, “At 84, you should hope so.”

When another person asked, “Oh my god, why are you writing this?” Cleese retorted: “Because I’ve never tried to entertain simple people. There are many comics like that, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.”

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When one person tried to insist that he would eventually delete the post, Cleese defiantly replied: Being insulted by literal-minded people is like being booed by a flock of sheep. ”

Mr. Cleese’s fiery back-and-forth comes after Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential election, spoke earlier this month about the purity of “blood” and made anti-immigration remarks that echoed Hitler’s presidential campaign chants. It happened after repeating Nazi slogans. Second World War.

“They are tainting the blood of our country,” President Trump said of the thousands of immigrants flooding into the United States without immediate legal status. “They are coming into our country from all over the world.”

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Last week, President Trump told a crowd in Iowa, “They’re coming from Africa, they’re coming from Asia, they’re coming from South America,” and called the migrant crisis a “border disaster.” .

But Creese didn’t just upset the Trumpers. Although Mr. Cleese calls himself an “old-fashioned liberal,” his commentary puts him at odds with “woke people.”

Last year, during an appearance at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas, the veteran actor lamented that political correctness was killing comedy.

“I think this is particularly worrying at the moment, because creativity can only occur in an atmosphere of freedom, which means you don’t critically check everything you say before proceeding. ” said Cleese.

“A lot of comedians now sit there and think of something and say something like, ‘Can I run away?'” I don’t think so. This and that got into trouble and he said, oh, she said, You know what I mean? And that’s the death of creativity. ”

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Cleese expanded on this in a 2021 conversation with Postmedia, criticizing today’s youth for being “too sensitive.”

“When you express a clear opinion, you always end up offending someone. That’s why politicians don’t say anything because the moment they say something definitive they offend someone,” he said. said. “Awakened people are often sensitive in a way that I don’t really admire. There’s a lot of posturing and virtue signaling…and they find it very difficult to understand sarcasm. , you think that if you say a word, it might turn out to be bad. No, the meaning of a word is determined from the context, not from the dictionary. That’s why whether you’re being sarcastic or sarcastic. If you do, you will be using language that is completely the opposite of what you are trying to convey. This kind of sensitivity is beyond many awakened people, because many of them are Because I think they lack a sense of thought, a sense of humor, a sense of balance at the end of the day.”

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But he still worried about the future of comedy and whether it would no longer be acceptable to even joke.

“I think there are two very important things happening right now,” he said, pondering what the future holds for comedians. “One is the Trump Republican Party, who are trying to destroy American democracy. The other is people on the left, woke people, who are trying to destroy everything that has to do with humor, and who are actually trying to destroy American democracy.” It doesn’t prepare them for the real world.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

X: @Mark Daniel

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